Dems try Solyndra counterattack

Republicans are having a field day with internal White House emails showing the administration tried to rush a loan approval for Solyndra so Vice President Joe Biden could make the announcement.

But Democrats have a message of their own: The Republicans backed the California solar company too.

Story Continued Below

Lobbyists with tight GOP connections helped the clean technology start-up company headed by a registered Republican. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s former GOP governor, was there for pivotal moments as Solyndra was born. And Solyndra got its federal footing thanks to a program in the 2005 energy law signed by President George W. Bush and passed by a Congress controlled entirely by Republicans.

"This loan guarantee was pursued by both the Bush and Obama administrations," said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

Democrats argue they were lulled into complacency by Solyndra executives who said all would be well once they restructured operations. They say they didn’t really start paying attention until this month’s FBI raid on the company and its late August bankruptcy protection filing, which darkened the skies around a poster child of the administration's green jobs agenda.

"The alarm bells in the fire station didn't go off until there was evidence of a fire," said Daniel Weiss, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. "The reality is no one outside the company had any idea they were in such dire straits.”

Obama officials are in deep with Solyndra.

Late Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that e-mail exchanges between White House officials and the Office of Management and Budget show a dash to get Solyndra's $535 million federal loan guarantee moving before a September 2009 groundbreaking that Biden participated in via video teleconference. House GOP investigators shared the messages with the Post, including one from an OMB official who wrote about “the time pressure we are under to sign-off on Solyndra.”

Obama himself visited the Fremont facility in May 2010 and the White House even produced a documentary touting the role that the federal stimulus law played in Solyndra hiring 1,100 new employees — people who last month ended up getting pink slips.

Weiss’s Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group with close ties to the White House, released a timeline of events Tuesday showing several pivotal moments during the Bush administration when Solyndra got government help. House Republicans investigating the company, Weiss said, “ought to make sure they talk to Sam Bodman too,” referring to Bush’s second-term Energy secretary.

Democrats also noted that Schwarzenegger attended Solyndra’s groundbreaking. (Photos show him holding up a ceremonial shovelful of dirt with Obama Energy Secretary Steven Chu). In addition, the White House snapped photos of Schwarzenegger talking with Obama during the president's visit to the company.

In fact, Solyndra’s top brass, its board and its paid lobbyists bring close ties to both political parties.

President and CEO Brian Harrison is a registered Republican. Billionaire George Kaiser, an Obama campaign bundler, was one of the venture capitalists who poured private funding into the clean technology startup.

And another venture capital firm, Madrone Capital Partners, which is tied to the GOP-leaning Walton family, was one of 10 firms that helped Solyndra raise about $144 million in November 2008.